1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, a method, and software which provides the method for use in processing transaction data used to check the financial condition and the profit and loss of a company.
2. Description of the Related Art
Regardless of whether a company is a small private company or a large enterprise, the company operates while checking its financial condition and its profit and loss. The financial condition and the profit and loss can be not only important indexes when management strategies are set for the future, but also necessary information when the tax is computed and a report is issued to stockholders.
A company normally generates financial statements to report its financial condition and its profit and loss by classifying and adjusting transactions. The financial statements contains a balance sheet indicating the share of assets on the closing day, and a profit and loss statement indicating the profit and loss in an accounting period. A ‘transaction’ refers not only to ‘sales’ and ‘purchase of material’, but also all economic processes relating to business activities such as ‘payment of wages’ and ‘adjustment of traveling expenses’. In addition, the process of classifying transactions to be processed according to predetermined rules is normally referred to as a journal entry.
The financial statements are often generated using a computer these days. In addition, the application software for generation of financial statements, etc. is also put on sale.
In an existing accounting system (application software or a device for the application software for generation of financial statements, etc.), the data relating to each transaction is normally input in each division (a sales department, a planning department, a purchase department, a personnel department, . . . , affiliated firms, etc.) forming part of a company, and is transmitted to an accounting division through a LAN (local area network) or Intranet, etc. Then, the accounting system generates (or supports to generate) financial statements by journalizing the data collected by the system.
However, the data collected by the accounting division has been conventionally input using the business management system individually developed for each division. That is, the business management system provided for each division has not been designed on the presumption that input data is to be reflected on the financial statements, etc. in the accounting division. In addition, since the terms and the classifying method used in the financial statements are normally not familiar to a person in a division other than the accounting division, each division often designs its own business management system. Therefore, the format of the data obtained from each division is often different from each other, and it has been difficult for the accounting division to centrally manage the information relating to the activities of the company.
Furthermore, if the format of the data obtained from each division is different from each other, then it is necessary for a program (correspondence table) used to generate financial statements, etc. from the transaction data obtained from each division to be prepared for the business management system of each division. Therefore, the complicated cooperation with the accounting system requires laborious maintenance and management. Especially, the accounting division has to check whether or not the data generated from transaction data is correct. In addition, if transaction data inconsistent with the format requested by the accounting division is input, then an error normally occurs in the accounting division. In this case, it is necessary for a person in charge in the accounting division checks each piece of the transaction data, and then has to manually input correct data. That is, there has been a heavy load in the accounting division.
In addition, when each division independently manages and controls its own operation, and when the expense of a transaction to be processed between divisions is to be transferred to another division, it is necessary that the accounting division first makes a journal entry as a head office account, and then generates transfer data on the responsibility of the accounting division. For example, when the traveling expenses of a member of the development division is borne by the sales division, the transaction data input by the development division is first journalized by the accounting division, and then it is reported to the sales division. Although another method is adopted, it is necessary to determine the method when the accounting division makes a journal entry, thereby causing a heavy load onto the accounting division.